Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Exorbitant Raises are an Insult to College Students in Connecticut.

Recent reports that the administrators for the Board of Regents of Higher Education have received exorbitant raises and the subsequent reaction of the Malloy administration (Uh, sorry, we have nothing to do with that - wink) and the Board of Regents (Uh? raises? We had no idea) is an offense to every student and every parent struggling to pay tuition and access our higher education system.

Think about it. The Board of Regents (nobody can quite figure out their title - or what they do) increased the pay of Mike Meotti who is the, get this title - Executive Vice President for the Board of Regents of Higher Education - to... get this.. $232,244. The Board of Do Nothings er Regents, then decided to pay a (or did they?) Spokeswoman (who used to work for state Democratic Party) $130,000 to well, decide to not speak on what all of the other bureaucrats working for the Board of Regents received in raises (apparently she got a raise on top of the $130K).

Don't we have a state budget crisis? Aren't we even concerned about the long term legacy costs of these employees?

And by the way, what does a $130,000 (with an undetermined raise) a year spokesperson for the Board of Regents of Higher Ed. do? - particularly when each university and college has its own spokesperson? Seriously? $130K to write press releases? Anyone? Anyone? Good grief.

In the worse economy since the Great Depression, the Department of Higher Ed - the organization that should be economizing and reducing inefficiencies at every turn to help our students - many of whom are struggling to retrain themselves and reenter the work force, many of whom are trying to stay in school under extraordinary financial pressure, many of whom come from challenged backgrounds and are in need of higher education more than ever, decided to feather bed themselves with cushy titles and unheard of benefits at the expense of the future of our students.